The Senate approved a resolution to block President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada on Wednesday evening, dealing a symbolic blow to the president’s trade policy.
Republican Senators Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined Democrats in ending the national emergency declaration justifying tariffs on Canada. The vote comes after the Senate successfully ended Trump’s 50% tariffs on Brazil on Tuesday evening with five Republicans crossing party lines. (RELATED: ‘Terminated’: Trump ends trade talks with Canada over Ronald Reagan’s ‘fake’ anti-tariff ad)
North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis voted to drop Trump’s tariffs on Brazil, but opposed reducing the president’s authority to impose tariffs on Canada. Both resolutions require a simple majority to pass.
“Huge tariffs on close trading partners like Brazil and Canada are ill-advised abuses of presidential power that will make Americans poorer,” Virginia Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Paul, two of the resolution’s sponsors, wrote in a statement. Editorial To The Washington Post on Wednesday. “Furthermore, Trump is abusing an irrelevant emergency law to do so. His reckless and unconstitutional actions threaten to push our country full steam ahead into economic chaos.”
McConnell also said the president’s tariffs increased prices for consumers and hurt Kentucky’s agricultural industry, in a statement declaring his support for the decision.
However, the decision is likely to be quickly postponed by the House of Representatives. House Speaker Mike Johnson is not expected to put the resolution to a vote on the floor.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – OCTOBER 21: (LR) U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) listen as U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a luncheon in the Rose Garden of the White House on October 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The vote comes after Trump increased tariffs on Canadian imports to 35% in response to a TV ad in Ontario calling out former President Ronald Reagan for criticizing the president’s trade policy. The video highlights Reagan’s warning that tariffs “harm every American worker and consumer” in the long term.
Vice President J.D. Vance urged Senate Republicans to unite behind the president’s tariff policies on Tuesday.
“Tariffs give us the ability to put American workers first,” Vance told reporters following a lunch meeting with the Republican caucus. “They force American industry to reinvest in the USA rather than a foreign country. They also represent incredible leverage for the President of the United States in negotiating these trade deals abroad.
The Senate previously voted to end the tariffs Trump imposed on Canada in April. Paul, McConnell, Murkowski and Collins teamed up with Democrats to block Trump’s national emergency declaration supporting the tariffs.
A group of Senate Democrats and Paul are also expected to force a vote on ending the president’s emergency powers to justify his global basic tariffs as early as this week.
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